Jordina Sales Carbonell: The establishment of monasteries in Hispania by means of the Patristics

The earliest monasteries in Hispania (4th to 7th centuries) are generally known thanks to archaeological data and a range of references found in various types of documentary sources, of which Patristics are particularly noteworthy. Nonetheless, there is a common belief that the map of pre-Islamic monasteries remains unchartered, partly because this Patristic literature has not been exploited for all it is worth from an archaeological or historical point of view.  For this reason, any news regarding Patristics and these monasteries will be systemized and analysed –from the cases of multiple founding such as those undertaken by the tireless Fructuosus of Braga, who established more than twenty monasteries; to news regarding individual events scattered across the Iberian Peninsula. The end goal will be to obtain the most comprehensive possible view of how the Fathers of the Church dealt with the blossoming of monasteries in Hispania, and to evaluate how such data fits into the broader historical discourse of pre-Medieval Christianity.